Because of their upset loss at Texas A&M last Saturday, Alabama has put its back against the wall moving forward. Nick Saban knows it.
In order to make the College Football Playoff, the Tide will have to win out, including the SEC Championship Game. Comments about selection committee bias aside, it is basically impossible to see a two-loss Alabama team in the playoff barring an unprecedented amount of chaos.
That’s why Saban has been clear with his team this week: they don’t have any margin of error going forward.
“You’ve got to respond from the edge of the cliff,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Saban’s message to the team yesterday: “You have to respond from the edge of the cliff.”
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) October 13, 2021
Saban: “The response has been good so far, but we’ve gotta carry that over day in and day out, game in and game out. So we’ll see if we’re capable of that. I told them yesterday, ‘You’ve gotta respond from the edge of the cliff. You don’t have a lot of room for error.'”
— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) October 13, 2021
After their loss to the Aggies, some analysts are lining up to declare Alabama’s season DOA. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said earlier today he doesn’t see the Tide qualifying for the CFP.
“I don’t think I’ve gone against Alabama in 10 years but I’m betting my house against them this time,” Finebaum said. “I don’t see it because they have to play Georgia. They can negotiate the rest of the season and they probably will. If you look at the FPI, they don’t have what I would call a really dangerous game. Well, of course, I didn’t think Texas A&M was a dangerous game, but to beat Georgia, they have to do things they haven’t done this year. And quite frankly, Heather already laid out the Georgia template. I don’t see it happening.”
We’ve seen Alabama counted out before though, only to rally and be right in the national title mix when all is said and done. They have to start this Saturday against Mississippi State.
The post Nick Saban Reveals Clear Message He Had For Alabama This Week appeared first on The Spun.